Tag: CAD

It’s been a minute since I’ve featured a bike build, that’s for sure. This one was sent in by Grant, and is chock full of highly detailed and very intricate home-built fabrication. The owner mixes a great amount of DIY fab work, from sand casting to CAD, and even creates a wooden forming die to bend stainless steel. I’ll admit, most of it goes way over my head, but it looks damn cool and I’m jealous as hell of the bucketload of talent on show. If you like machining, welding and lots of shiny metal, you best get in here.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you would have seen me post about Mike at least a few times. Mike is the owner of the 1UZ Supra (along with the world’s most insane welding cart) that I featured back in 2013, a car that belongs to what I call the best build thread of all time. After working at The Roadster Shop for a few years, Mike was keen to start a bigger and better project from the ground up with his highly developed skill set. While this build has been gaining traction on Instagram for a while now, it’s only in the past few days that Mike has made a build thread on a forum, so I wanted to get you guys on board as soon as possible. Get yourself acquainted with this build, because I guarantee you’re going to see it all over the internet!

Let me start out by saying this build is not yet complete, but the quality levels are through the roof, and as usual you can expect updates to be posted when it’s further along. For now, though, I’ll think you’ll be as gobsmacked as I was when I first saw the 3D scanning, CAD work, 3D printed parts, and fabrication already taking place. Rest assured, when it’s complete, this will be one VERY sorted A4. If only all fabricators had project cars, what a world that would be…

This build has been sitting in my drafts folder for two years, TWO WHOLE YEARS! I’m always fighting with myself over posting builds before they’re complete, but this one is just too good to sit on, so I figured it was finally time (plus I like posting follow-ups on popular builds as they evolve). This pro-touring PontiacFirebird resides in Sweden, and is being transformed with great attention to detail and craftsmanship during a love affair spanning 16 years. There’s plenty of fabrication and CAD design to keep you more than entertained, from big suspension components to the smallest detailed bracketry, and the photos are all top notch. Apart from the build thread you can also follow this extremely thorough project on it’s dedicated Facebook page, which you’ll find at the bottom of the post.

In much the same vein as the recently updated Bentley EXP Speed 8 and BMW M1 replica builds, we have another 2-seat endurance racing type vehicle being hand built by an enthusiast putting their own spin on things. This one starts with a blank canvas composite body and a drive-train donated from a 997 GT3, what a way to keep it in the family! Aside from the obvious appeal of this build, there’s also an abundance of CAD machining going on, for all you CNC freaks out there.

Have you heard of the Rampage Camaro? Of course you have, it was arguably the biggest hit of SEMA 2014; a second generation Camaro with a full slathering of motorsport technology and fabrication bestowed onto it by the wizards at Roadster Shop. And what’s better than seeing pictures of a glossy finished car shining under stadium lights? Pictures of that same car in bare metal with little to no panels bolted to it! I actually found this build through another featured build. I was browsing for updates on the red MKII Supra (whose owner works at Roadster Shop), when I saw him post a link to this build within his own thread. See, it always pays to look through the archives, you never know what you’ll find! I honestly had a lot of trouble figuring out which pictures to use for this post, as I found myself wanting to save pretty much every damn image from the thread, so I hope you enjoy the visual banquet that is this build as much as I did. It might not be achievable for most of us, but it’s nice to dream and peek into the upper echelon of car building once in a while. Who knows, you might find an idea or two for your own build?

Click here for more Roadster Shop builds (there are four so far including this one).

Time Attack season is almost upon us, with World Time Attack Challenge just around the corner (click here for my photos from 2010), I thought it would be a great time to share this long-term build from Australia. The brainchild of a Mazda aficionado and die-hard collector, this NCMX5 welcomes the addition of firstly a supercharged Renesis 13B, and then a 20B 3-rotor with individual throttle bodies and a whole host of goodies. Apart from all the CAD screenshots, machined metal goodness, fabrication, welding and general race-car building, you’ll also find a bonus R35GTR build and a visit to Mazda HQ in Hiroshima within the thread.

I know for the most part that Build-Threads.com is kind of a one-way thing. I post, you read, that type of deal. But the truth is that I love hearing from readers via email, Twitter, the Facebook page, and the new Facebook Discussion Group. Whilst everyone’s projects can’t be featured, I still love seeing what people are up to. Most of the time it’s regular guys like myself, tinkering away at their project in the garage, but every now and then something far beyond the reaches of us common folk greets me. Just the other day, Lewis from Peasnell Racing Designs sent me a Facebook message with a few images of his work, letting me know very politely that he’d love to see his work on the site if I ever had a ‘slow news day’. What I saw left me gobsmacked, and I couldn’t wait to share it with everyone and hopefully give Lewis a platform for his work via this humble website. Before we start salivating over the fabrication and design, I’ll leave you with this quote from Lewis to remind us that, although his work might be otherworldly, deep down he’s just a normal guy like you and me…

“Growing up I loved LEGO and drawing, this is just my grown up version, I’m sure.”

Visit Peasnell Racing Designs on Facebook and give them a like to stay in touch with their future work. I’d like to thank Lewis for allowing me the opportunity to share his work with the world on Build-Threads.com.

So, I heard you like CNC machined parts? Check out the astonishing amount of work being poured into this 1-off bike by Shaun Wainford, the man behind SW Engineering. Having a CAD/CNC setup in your home would deinitely come in handy for hobbies like ours, and Shaun definitely makes full use of the tools on offer.

Attention tech-heads, here’s one for you. If you like CAD drawings, stress-tests, loading simulations, suspension pickup point design, and a whole bunch of other stuff that’s way over my head, then you’ll enjoy this build. This is one mans quest to design and build his own mid-mounted turbo LS1 powered track car over in Germany, reminding me a bit of the previously featured Bentley Speed 8 replica build.